An inherited variant on chromosome 8q24, rs6983267, is significantly associated with cancer pathogenesis. We present evidence that the region harboring this variant is a transcriptional enhancer, that the alleles of rs6983267 differentially bind transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) and that the risk region physically interacts with the MYC proto-oncogene. These data provide strong support for a biological mechanism underlying this non-protein-coding risk variant.